The president of the Police Association of Ontario isn’t happy officers across the province are being left in the dark about whether or not they’ll be able to use recreational cannabis off duty when it becomes legal.

Bruce Chapman, president of the Police Association of Ontario, says so far there’s been little collaboration with police associations to develop policies for their members.

“Here we are two weeks from the legalization of recreational marijuana … there’s been limited consultation with associations that represent the members, so it’s concerning from the aspect of police associations,” said Chapman.

Pot use policies for officers are being developed by police services across the country, with Calgary declaring an abstinence-only policy for their officers. The RCMP, meanwhile, have established an eight-hour cut off on cannabis use before officers show up to work.

While other police services work on policies, officers are asking questions.

“The frustration will come when they’re trying to enforce a policy no one knows all the answers to, and the consequences of their actions and what they’re allowed to do, and how they differ from service to service and neighbouring jurisdictions could have completely different policies put in place,” Chapman said, pointing to Calgary and Vancouver’s very different policies.

Association doesn’t support ban

He said his association does not support an outright ban on officers using marijuana when off-duty.

“It’s not a personal support, it’s a constitutional support for the laws of the land,” he said. “I worked in my career in the drug squad where we used to arrest people for using cannabis, but if the federal laws are changing and it’s legal to do so – in October you can’t stop an officer or a civilian from doing it in their own time, similar to alcohol.”

Chapman says he wants to see police services sitting down with officers’ associations and coming up with solutions that work.

In his conversations with officers, he says he’s seeing a large variance in attitudes.

“There are some benefits to it – it helps anxiety in certain conditions. I’m not saying I’m opposed to it, I’m not saying I support it. The membership at large has varying degrees of support for it, from, ‘No, it doesn’t matter, I’ll never use it,’ to ‘I may use it. I used it 25 years ago and I may do it again now that it’s legal,'” he said.

He says fitness for duty is a major consideration, similar to the alcohol policy many police services have in place now.

Ottawa settled, Toronto not

Chapman says major police associations across the country are currently holding meetings to discuss legalization for their members.